The doorbell rang, and I jumped, startled, awaking from my idle thoughts. I shifted in my chair, turning toward the door, my lips parting slightly as I blinked back into reality. I swallowed, then started to push myself out of the chair when she came running down the hallway, the soft thumping of her feet pounding the hardwood floor. “Daddy!” Her voice was excited, and she reached the door before I had a chance to rise from my seat.

I sighed. She hadn’t shown that much excitement toward me all week.

The door flung open, and he took her into his arms immediately, throwing her into the air and then catching her back into his embrace. He pressed her face against his chest, his hand holding it there for support as she giggled happily. His smile was sincere, and he shut his eyes, letting out in just a whisper, “I’ve missed you, baby.”

My heart stung with jealousy and regret at those words, almost wishing they were directed at me. I my lips, then cleared my throat as I headed into the drawing room to greet him.

Seungho’s eyes opened at once upon hearing me enter, and he set Lauren down, who grasped his leg with one hand, a thumb in . I glanced down at her, the tenderness of her action forming a burning envy in my heart.

“Ah…hello.” Seungho said, bowing slightly. He gave a faint smile, then rubbed his neck.

I nodded, then passed by him into the kitchen, opening a cupboard to pour myself some wine, not allowing myself to speak to him. My eyes constantly shifted to the drawing room, listening in as Seungho directed his daughter to gather her things, and Lauren gladly accommodated.

“Make sure you have your homework!” he called as Lauren went galloping down the hallway into her room. He chuckled to himself, then turned his head toward me. I instantly looked away and leaned against the counter, tilting my head back as I circled my neck around to stretch it. Seungho hung his head, his hands resting on his hips, then turned back toward the kitchen. “Care if I steal a glass?” he asked.

My eyes moved toward him, and I shrugged, pushing the bottle of wine across the counter. Slowly, he entered the kitchen, easily taking a glass from the familiar cupboard. “How has she been?” he asked.

I lowered the glass from my lips, then them. “She’s good.” I replied, waiting for the next question. It didn’t come.

“I’ll make sure to watch her closely, and have her back Sunday evening.” Seungho said. He leaned his back against the opposite counter, placing one hand on top of it. I nodded, then blinked several times before taking another long, painful sip of wine, letting out an exasperated exhale when finished.

Seungho tilted his head to the side. “How have you been?” he finally asked.

The side of my mouth lifted into a petite smile, and I chuckled, setting down my empty glass next to me. I crossed my arms, then looked at his eyes. “I’m good.” I said, hoping he didn’t catch the insincerity.

He smiled. “I’m glad.”

Apparently, he didn’t.

We sat there for a moment without a word, and he downed his wine in one last gulp before heading out of the kitchen. “Lauren!” he called. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Just a minute, Daddy!” she said, her high pitched voice cracking slightly. I felt myself smile proudly at her, and I stepped into the drawing room, one hand on my wrist, to say goodbye. I watched as Lauren descended the hallway, a giant smile planted on her face. My own grin fell when I saw her, brightly beaming at her father.

I bent down to help her put her backpack on, then held out my arms for a hug. Instead, she flew away to the door, jumping up and down. “Come on Daddy!” she urged, “Let’s go!” I looked down at the ground for a moment, then rubbed my nose, rising to my feet. I turned, massaging my face with one hand as the other grasped my elbow for support.

Seungho turned to me, an apologetic smile resting on his soft face, a smile I had come to know all too well. I nodded slowly, waving, then turned around, perambulating down the hallway.

“Wait.”

I turned back around, raising my eyebrows in anticipation. “Yes?”

Seungho bit his lip, patting the impatient Lauren on the head. He rubbed his chin as if in thought, then directed his eyes back at me. “Um…” he started, “Has she eaten dinner yet?”

I shook my head. “No.” I replied blankly. I turned back around, slowly walking up the hallway to my bedroom, then stopped as I heard the door shut, and Lauren’s incessant chatter resume once outside.

I lowered my head, rubbing my face with both hands, then fell to the side, my shoulder hitting against the wall in agony. I let out a small sigh and turned to my back, leaning my head against the wall.

My eyes fluttered closed, and I pursed my lips forward, biting the inside of my cheek. I felt a tear escape my eye, and I wiped it away, opening my eyes to stop it. In front of me was Lauren’s room, the door ajar.

Taped across the front was a coloring Lauren had done of her name in bright pink letters, written in English. I smiled to myself, then stepped forward off of the wall, pushing the door open curiously with one hand as I rubbed my back with the other.

I looked around her room, perfectly organized but somewhat cluttered, and stepped inside, picking up random toys off of the ground to put in their rightful places. I picked up a small stuffed elephant from the floor, dropping the rest of the toys in my arms into her toy bin, and held it up in front of me, tracing the tusks with my finger.

I remembered when we bought it for her at her first birthday, and her face, so surprised and thankful, when she received it. She never let go of it since. I wondered why she hadn’t taken it with her for the weekend, and I sighed, setting it neatly on her bed.

It was then that I noticed a small sheet of white paper and a couple of crayons in the corner of her bed, underneath her pillow. Confused, I reached for the drawing, my eyes widening as I viewed it. I dropped to the bed, bringing one hand to my mouth in shock.

Drawn in childlike scrawl were two stick figures, one a male, the other female, on opposite sides of the paper, with a red heart in between, cut through the middle. Beneath both of their eyes were large tears, and the words “Daddy” and “Mommy” were written above them.

My hand went to my heart, and I felt my throat become dry. Tears began escaping my eyes, which I closed, feeling their wetness drip down my face and on to the paper. I bit my lip to keep from sobbing, but my efforts proved futile.

With the sleeve of my shirt, I wiped the tears away, viewing the drawing once more. I sniffled, setting the drawing in my lap as I buried my face in my hands, sobbing into them, unrestrained. Lauren’s picture flew out of my lap onto the floor, but I ignored it, crying endlessly.

I fell onto the bed, grasping Lauren’s unicorn pillow pet in my arms as I let my eyes wet it, and I glanced at the drawing.

I reached down and picked it up, holding it against my heart, then wiped my eyes, sniffling again as the sobs became softer and more controlled. I ran my finger up and down the paper, then looked down, my eyebrows curving inwards as I noticed writing on the backside.

I picked it up in my hands, sitting up, and swallowed, the picture in front of me stimulating more tears.

Lauren had drawn another pair, a man and a woman, this time holding hands, a complete heart drawn above them. Their faces were smiles, and there were no longer tears next to their eyes. Below them was a smaller figure, with an even bigger smile drawn on its round face. I bit my lip and smiled, reading the two words written at the bottom of the page aloud.

“Our Family.”

A/N Hello readers! This isn’t edited, so I am sorry for any mistakes. ^^;;

I think the point of this particular oneshot was perspective. It is written in first person, and the thoughts and feelings of the “you” character are (hopefully) known throughout the oneshot, without too much information regarding how Seungho or Lauren feel. To me that symbolizes the kind of self-pitying outlook that a lot of people have when they are going through a time of crisis. But then, as “you” discover little Lauren’s drawing, you finally understand that you aren’t the only one hurting. Not only is Seungho, the other crying person in the photo, affected by your separation, but Lauren is as well, who obviously had both her parents in mind while drawing it. I hope I did an okay job of this D:

As for the title, I contemplated it a lot after writing this…and I decided on it because it has a sort of double meaning, at least to me. “Joint Custody” obviously refers to both parents having custody of the child, just on different days. But in the case of this story I hope you also see that it could also represent the shared anguish, pain, and sadness that both divorced parents feel…I guess they kind of have “joint custody” over those angst-y feelings. Then again, I could just be overanalyzing my own story OTL this is what APLang does to you!

I guess the message I was trying to present was that sometimes, we need to step back and take a look at certain situations from a different perspective than our own. If we do, we may start to see things that we didn’t even know were going on. I think many problems and issues in this world would be better solved if everyone had a little empathy once in a while.

Anyway I was just in the mood to write a depressing oneshot, and it kind of applies to my life right now so…yeah. (Not that I’m like a divorced parent or something, but the whole perspective thing.) But yeah, sorry for this loooonng author note…I hope you still read it though…and I hope you kind of caught some of what I was thinking while you read that. If not, oh well, I tried. Anyway, thanks for reading my little oneshot, and your comments are loved! :) I would love to see how you feel about this oneshot. O:

Oh and also…please check out my Junhyung oneshots…I mean if you want at least. Teeheee. Bye~